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Show MAGNIFICENT VESSEL BUILT IN AMERICAN SHIPYARDS The largest vessel ever built in an American shipyard was launched April 16, at the plant of its builders, the United States Shipbuilding company, com-pany, at New London, Conn. The new boat, which has been christened the Minnesota, is exceeded in size by but two other vessels in the world, the Celtic and Cedric of the White Star line, which were built abroad. The Minnesota is to be one of the great fleet of intermediate freight and passenger ships, with which the Great Northern Steamship company aims to gain control of Pacific ocean traffic. It is C30 feet long. 73 feet 6 inches wide. 88 feet high to the captain's cap-tain's bridge, and 177 feet high to the top of the masts. She will be rigged as a foufmasted schooner and in all will have nine decks, five of which will be continuous. Her total cargo capacity will be 30,000 tons, and her hatches are so large that an entire locomotive or freight car can be lowered into her hold intact. The bunker capacity is 6,000 tons, and the driving power will come from two vertical inverted direct acting, triple expansion surface condensing marine engines having an indicated horse-power of 10.000, which means a speed of about fourteen knots per hour. j Fire in the hold can be extinguish-! extinguish-! ed by steam, valves for controlling j which are always accessible on the j upper deck. Officials of the building company j believe the launching of the Minne-j Minne-j sota means much for American ship-I ship-I builders who have heretofore never i built any but war vessels of the larg- ' j est type. Foreign orders for merchant ! ships are now expected. |